The
Hindenburg Line

The
Hindenburg Line was a vast system of defences in
Northern France constructed by the Germans during the
winter of 1916-17. It ran from the area around Arras all
the way to beyond St Quentin, and consisted of deep and
wide trenches, thick belts of barbed wire, concrete
machine-gun positions, concrete bunkers, tunnels and
command posts. It was considered virtually impregnable
by the Germans. The British offensives of 1917-1918 were
to prove otherwise.

Eighty
years later the Hindenburg Line battlefields are among
the most forgotten along the entire Western Front. Most
visitors gravitate towards the Somme and Ypres. But
there are more than 200 British Military Cemeteries and
Memorials in this area, and some of the most important
battles of the Great War were fought here.

See the new
Arras section of the website for
the 90th Anniversary in 2007.

My book Walking
Arras also came out in May 2007 - click
here for more details.